6000 B.C.
An ancestor of chess begins to be played. It evolves from an Indian game called Chaturanga. In the 15th Century, modern chess pieces were finally standardized. The queen and bishop pieces acquired the powers they hold today.
4000 B.C.
A Babylonian board game was probably an ancestor of chess and checkers.
3000 B.C.
First game resembling backgammon is played in Ancient Samaria. Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans had played games similar to backgammon for thousands of years. Stone marbles are first used in Egypt. Glass marbles were popularized in the United States in the 1800s.
2000 B.C.
Egyptians begin to play a game that resembles modern-day checkers.
Egyptians made dolls from string, fabric and paper.
The first iron skates are used in Scandinavia.
1000 B.C.
Kites appear in China. They have probably been flown since before recorded history. Stone Yo-Yos begin to be used in Greece.
969
Playing cards begin to be used in Asia.
1759
Joseph Merlin introduces roller skates.
1800's
Playgrounds begin to appear in American cities. The idea stemmed from the efforts of city reformers who were searching for more healthful play options for children in urban areas, where parks and yards were scarce. The playgrounds started off as "sand gardens," inspired by those seen by an American social worker while visiting Berlin. Financed by local businesses, city playgrounds soon included swings and seesaws.
1840
The first American doll maker is granted a patent and dolls begin to be mass-produced in America for the first time.
1843
Salem, Massachusetts native S.B. Ives develops "The Mansion of Happiness," the first the first commercially produced board game in the United States of America.
1867
A westernized version of the Indian game Parcheesi is introduced in England under the name "Ludo." Parcheesi remains the oldest continually marketed American toy that dates back to 300 A.D.
1879
Alphabet Blocks become favorites and help children learn their alphabet the old-fashioned way.
Margarete Steiff notices a pattern in a magazine for a toy elephant and makes a few to give as gifts. She went on to sew a bear, a poodle and a donkey. Margarete's stuffed animals proved so popular that she was able to turn her hobby into a business. Since then, Steiff bears, with their jointed arms and legs and trademark metal button in their left ear, have been treasured the world over.
1884
Three young brothers begin making high-quality wooden toys in Osby, Sweden and the BRIO corporation is born, taking its name from the BRothers Ivarson of Osby. Wooden Figure-8 Train Sets are introduced by BRIO. Peter Reynolds began distributing BRIO toys in the United States in 1977. More than 3.5 million trains, cars, and trucks have come off BRIO's assembly line, the largest wooden toy manufacturer in the world.
1886
The first BB gun is created. Made for children, it scares many parents because it is actually a working gun that can cause injury. The BB gun is a descendant of the cap gun, which was invented soon after the Civil War, when some shotgun manufacturers converted their factories to make toys. Penny pistols and other authentic looking toy guns also began to appear in the 1880s.
1887
The speaking doll, which had first been invented by Johann Maezel in 1820, is improved when Thomas Edison combines his phonograph technology with a doll, allowing it to speak.
1880's
Mah Jongg was named for a Chinese word meaning "sparrow," originates in the Ningbo area of China. Games like Mah Jongg had been played as long ago as 1800.
1889
The Flexible Flyer sled is introduced. It is a wonderful sled, largely due to its extraordinary craftsmanship. The sled handles superbly, due to its patented steering bar.
1890
Australian native Lawrence Hargrave invents the first three-dimensional kite.
1898
Gund introduces the first mass-produced musical toys and soft toys.
1900
At just 22 years old, Joshua Lionel Cowen creates a battery-powered train engine as an "animated advertisement" for products in a store's display window. To his surprise, customers are more interested in purchasing his toy train, than the merchandise in the display. Lionel Trains began.
1902
In America, toy bears begin to be called "Teddy Bears" after President Theodore Roosevelt. In only a few years, Teddy Bear-mania sweeps the world and by 1915, large-scale toy bear manufacturing is in full swing.
1903
Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith produce the first box of Crayola crayons.
1911
Strombeck-BecKer is formed. In the years to follow the company becomes Strombecker Toys and a powerhouse in the toy manufacturing world. Strombeck-BecKer History.
1913
Former Olympian (Gold, Pole Vault, 1908) and medical doctor A.C. Gilbert invents the Erector Set, a motorized toy made of steel parts. Children use the parts to build models of everything from ferris wheels to skyscrapers.
1914
Charles Pajeau develops a toy similar to the Erector Set, but designed for younger children, called Tinker Toys. Watching children poke sticks into the holes of thread spools inspired Pajeau.
Eagle Rubber starts to manufacture rubber toy balloons. Children like to play with this item for a couple of reasons. The hopping itself is a fun way for children to improve balance and coordination while developing their gross motor skills.
1915
Johnny Gruelle, a newspaper cartoonist, begins to sell Raggedy Ann dolls based on one he had made for his daughter, Marcella. Visit the Johnny Gruelle Reggedy Ann & Andy Museum.
1916
John Lloyd Wright, the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright invents Lincoln Logs, interlocking toy logs children use to build imaginative structures. Wright was inspired by the way that his father designed the earthquake-proof Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan.
Louis Marx was a young man with visions of mass marketing and mass production. He ventured out to begin a toy company. Joined by his brother David a couple of years later, Louis Marx & Company grew to become the world's largest manufacturer of toys in the middle of the century. It has evolved into a "classic" toy staple of the 1990's.
1922
Jack Pressman creates a play doctor's bag when his children are afraid to visit the doctor. His company becomes the largest manufacturer of classic games, selling more than 25 million checker sets and 15 million chess and Chinese checker sets to date.
1924
His wife, Daphne, and his young son, Christopher Robin, inspired A.A. Milne to write the poems and stories of Winnie the Pooh.
1927
A tough, durable kind of plastic, polystyrene is invented. Although the first plastic, celluloid, was invented in the 1860s, polystyrene is the first type strong enough to really suit toy making.
1928
Walt Disney creates the Mickey Mouse character. Two years later, Charlotte Clark began making stuffed Mickey Mouse dolls, and Disney merchandising was born.
1929
The Yo-Yo is popularized in the United States after entrepreneur Donald Duncan sees the toy being demonstrated in Los Angeles. Duncan buys a small Yo-Yo company for $25,000 and 30 years later, sales of Duncan Yo-Yos reach $25 million dollars.
1930
Stacking Rings are introduced and remain a classic toy today. The five brightly colored rings on a stack allow babies to place them in any order they wish. There are many different combinations that help improve baby's eye-hand coordination.
1931
Alfred M. Butts, an unemployed architect from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., invents a word game called the Criss Cross Game. In 1948, Butts sells rights to the game to entrepreneur James Brunot who trademarks the game under the name Scrabble.
1932
Ole Christiansen, a Danish toy maker begins to manufacture toy blocks with a new twist. Christiansen creates a plastic brick that can be locked together in different configurations. The Lego, which comes from the Danish word meaning "play well," was born. Six bricks fit together in 102,981,500 different ways.
1934
Sorry! is introduced as a fun and easy way to bring friends and family together. The object of the game is to be the first player to get all four of the pawns in your starting color into that color's home. The CD-ROM version, produced by Hasbro Interactive, has pawns that slip and slide around the board, taunting and teasing the other pawns along the way.
1935
Monopoly is introduced with its real estate based on Atlantic City's street names. During the first year on the market, Monopoly was the best-selling game in America. And over its sixty-five-year history, an estimated five hundred million people have played the game.
1939
William Gruber, a piano tuner from Portland, Oregon, has the idea of mass-producing color 3-D images in a viewer. Introduced before television becomes widespread, View Master is an immediate hit.
Early 1940s
Affordable, detailed model airplanes begin to be mass-produced. Originally designed to help manufacturers sell airplanes to the military, they begin to make practical toys with the introduction of plastic. Before plastic, models were made with balsa wood provided in kits. Otherwise, consumers had to cut their own wood pieces to fit a provided pattern.
1942
Little Golden Books begin delighting children and parents of all ages.
1943
While searching for a suspension device to ease rough sailing on battleships, navy engineer Richard James discovers that a torsion spring will "walk" end over end when knocked over. James brought the discovery home to his wife, who named the new toy "Slinky." If stretched end to end, the Slinky toys sold since 1945 would wrap around the world more than 125 times. Slinky's are still made in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, on the same eight machines that James began with over 50 years ago.
Chutes and Ladders is developed, based upon an old game called Snakes and Ladders that European settlers brought with them to America.
1948
Arthur "Spud" Melin founded Wham-O with partner Richard Kerr to market slingshots and other projectile-firing sporting goods by mail. In 1956 the company branched out into more peaceful playthings with the introduction of the Frisbee and two years after that struck gold with the original Hula Hoop. Melin died on June 28 2002.
1949
While recovering from polio, Eleanor Abbott devises imaginary games, among them the famous Candyland. She sells the game to Milton Bradley, where it remains a perennial top-seller for the preschool set.
Silly Putty is introduced. Silly Putty was a byproduct of a search to find a synthetic substitute for rubber. James Wright, a chemical engineer for General Electric, came up with the flesh-colored silicone compound that bounced when rolled into a ball and stretched like rubber.
1950
With the introduction of the Safety School Bus, Little People as we know and love them today are born.
1951
Two art students discover that vinyl sticks to semi gloss paint. From this discovery, Colorforms is born.
1952
Banking on the idea that children like to play with their food, Mr. Potato Head is introduced. Mr. Potato Head is the first toy advertised on television. First year sales of the toy are $4 million!
Edward Haas brings the Pez mint dispenser to the United States. It was initially unsuccessful, but gained popularity after Haas changed the original lighter-like design by adding a cartoon head and replacing the mints with fruit-flavored candy.
Jack Odell creates the original Matchbox car when he makes a small brass model of a Road Roller and puts it into a matchbox so that his daughter could bring it to school. Today, 100 million Matchbox cars are sold each year.
1956
Yahtzee was invented by a Canadian couple. They approached Mr. Edwin S. Lowe, a man who made a fortune selling Bingo games. Lowe liked the game, offered to buy the rights and changed the name of the game to Yahtzee.
Play-Doh enters the market as wallpaper cleaner. Non-toxic and less messy than regular modeling clay, it is soon recognized that the cleaner makes an excellent toy. The innovative product made Joe Clicker a millionaire before his 27th birthday. To date, more than 700 million pounds of Play-Doh have been sold.
At a Fourth of July family barbecue, Milton Levine dreams up the idea for the first Ant Farm, complete with live ants.
Gumby
1957
The Tonka truck is introduced by a group of Minnesota teachers. The word Tonka means "great" in Dakota Sioux, the language of the Native American tribe indigenous to Minnesota. More than 230 million trucks have been manufactured to date.
The idea of the Frisbee comes from a metal pie tin originally manufactured by the Frisbee Baking Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. During the 1920's, students at nearby Yale University threw the tins around for fun and yelled "Frisbee" to warn passersby. Fred Morrison, a carpenter and building inspector who was fascinated with flight and plastic, came up with the design for a flying disk. Wham-O bought the idea and named it Pluto Power, because it resembled a flying saucer. In 1957 Wham-O modified the plastic disk and trademarked the name Frisbee. Since its debut, Wham-O has produced more than one hundred million disks.
1959
Elliot Handler and his wife Ruth invent the Barbie doll. Today, two Barbie's are sold every two seconds.
Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr begin to market Hula Hoops after getting the idea from a friend who saw school children in Australia twirl bamboo hoops around their waist for exercise. Merlin and Knerr were actually reinventing a toy that was probably used a long ago as 1000 B.C. in Egypt, and, later, Greece and Rome. In the first year of production, 15 million Hula Hoops were sold.
The Risk game is introduced.
1960
Etch-A-Sketch could be called "The World's First Laptop," its origin isn't Silicon Valley. The inventor was Frenchman Arthur Granjean. It was manufactured by Bryan, Ohio's Ohio Art Company. The Etch-A-Sketch still boasts the classic red frame, glass screen, aluminum powder and two knobs that control the stylus' movement. The screen's reverse side is coated with a mixture of special powder and plastic beads. Spanning generations of families and providing hours of fun to millions of people in more than 67 countries world-wide. Originally named "L'Ecran Magique" it was later renamed Etch-A-Sketch.
In 1869, the Checkered Game of Life was introduced. Its popularity began Bradley's career in the game business. In 1959, executives at Bradley's company asked game inventor Reuben Klammer to come up with a game to commemorate Milton Bradley's anniversary. Inspired by one of Bradley's old Checkered Game of Life game boards, Klamer designed the now-classic Game of Life.
1963
Hasbro introduces its light-bulb heated Easy Bake Oven .
1965
Stanley Weston creates a doll for boys based on a new television show called "The Lieutenant." The doll, G.I. Joe, proves more popular than the TV series, to the surprise of many toy manufacturers who had assumed for years that boys wouldn't play with dolls. Interestingly, a female G.I. Joe doll introduced years later was a flop.
Spirograph is introduced at the Nuremburg International Toy Fair. Its visual creativity and ease of use expands the range of art experiences for children. With wild colors and patterns, it is appropriate for all ages and abilities. Using a simple set of gear-form templates and a set of colored pens, anyone can make hundreds of geometric shapes and create a variety of effects.
1966
Elliot Handler, one of the cofounders of Mattel Inc., invents Hot Wheels by adding axles and rotating wheels to small model cars. These gravity-powered car with special low-friction styrene wheels reaches 300 million per hour.
Twister is introduced as the first game invented requiring people to use their bodies as playing pieces. Twister actually grew out of a project that inventor Reyn Guyer was working on for his father's design company and has been played by an estimated 65 million people around the world.
1968
A new push-pull toy called The Corn Popper is introduced and adds the incentive of fun to confidence-building mastery. The multicolored balls pop inside a clear bubble in response to the child's walking. The popping fascinates children, and they keep walking to keep hearing the pops. Sturdy and carefully designed, the toy works with a child's growth patterns and makes learning and practice painless and carefree.
1969
Parker Brothers introduces the Nerf ball, a polyurethane foam ball that is safe for indoor play. By year's end, more than 4 million Nerf balls are sold.
1971
Hans Beck creates his first Playmobil system. Perfectly designed for little hands and growing minds, the pieces are durable crafted, with bright colors, rounded edges, and inviting themes. And as an added bonus to parents, each set is fully washable. Playmobil has created over 275 different sets, all scaled to work together.
1972
Magnavox introduces Odyssey, the first video game machine, featuring a primitive form of paddleball. Other companies soon invested in the video game business and, by 1976, hockey, tennis, and squash were available.
The card game UNO was launched in 1972. It consists of four suits of 27 cards plus wild cards and special cards for skipping the next player, reversing the direction of play and making the next player draw cards.
1973
Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax invent Dungeons & Dragons. The game creates a whole new fantasy adventure category of toys, which has become a $250 million market annually.
1974
Four engineers created Magna Doodle in response to their search for a dustless chalkboard and it was first sold by Tyco. Magna Doodle has a variety of uses and has been purchased by more than forty million people.
1976
Nolan Bushnell sells his video game company, Atari, to Warner Brothers. Atari's popular Pong and Super Pong video tennis games soon gave way to a home video cartridge system that ran full-color games, from baseball to Pac-man. By 1992, Atari was making $2 billion a year, but lost its business just as quickly through over-licensing. In 1983, Atari sent thousands of cartridges to Texas to be used as landfill.
1977
Star Wars action figures are marketed in response to George Lucas's blockbuster film. They dominate the action figure market.
1983
Nintendo Entertainment System, a home video game system, is introduced. With 52 colors, realistic sound and high-speed action, it catches the attention of retailers who were initially skittish due to Atari's collapse. The NES, as well as the popular "Super Mario Brothers" and "The Legend of Zelda" game cartridges, were the top-selling toys for the 1987, 1988 and 1989 holiday seasons.
The Manhattan Toy Company begins under the creative hand of Francis Goldwyn; they make wonderful finger puppets and also make a theater for the puppets. Playing with finger puppets helps children develop their imagination and language skills and encourages them to express themselves.
1984
Dakin, purchased the assets of Vogue Dolls and all of the stock and rights to the Ginny Doll. The Liberty Belle Doll was made sometime during 1984 or 1985. The original version was made in 1975. The artist who created it was John Stampone. That is why his name appeared on the doll. In 1990, the Vogue Doll division was sold to the Smith family.located near Modesto, California.
1985
Pappa Geppetto's Toys in Victoria BC Canada is founded and begins as a small manufacturer of wooden toys and gifts. Squish was designed by Tom Flemons while he was studying Buckminster Fuller's "tensegrity" structures-models that show coexistent tension and compression and are comprised of a complex network of triangles that form a roughly spherical shape. Squish is the ultimate baby toy, with bright colors, sliding beads and a jingling bell.
1986
Artist Xavier Roberts introduces his Cabbage Patch Kids into the mass market first through the Coleco Company. Each of the dolls comes with an adoption certificate and unique name. Although more than three million of the dolls are produced, supply cannot keep up with demand. Cabbage Patch Kids become the most successful new dolls in the history of the toy industry
Rob Angel, a 24-year-old waiter from Seattle, introduces Pictionary, a game in which partners try to guess phrases based on each other's drawings.
1987
Engineer Scott Stillinger invents the Koosh Ball in an effort to teach young children how to catch. He tied rubber bands together to make a small, easy-to-catch ball. The name "koosh" comes from the sound the ball makers as it lands in a person's hand.
The first Intellitoy is introduced and takes the country by storm. Teddy Ruxpin is an automated responding bear who can read books aloud.
1989
A battery-powered, hand-held video game system called Gameboy is released.
1993
Toy inventor H. Ty Warner begins to market under stuffed plush beanbag toys called Beanie Babies. The toys are designed to be inexpensive so that a child can purchase them. Warner began with nine Beanie Babies (a dog, a platypus, a moose, a bear, a dolphin, a frog, a lobster, a whale, and a pig.) The toys were not an instant success. It was only after the 11 Beanie Babies were retired in 1996 that they became a collector's item.
Gymini Gym is introduced as an expansion of the classic mobile so that your child can play with it in a variety of ways. The structure is based on colorful arches designed so soft toys can be attached. Because it is padded, your baby can lie on top of the mat and play on it or roll over around still be secure. A variety of Gyminis are available, with different themes and different colors. Gymini is a true original and the leading activity gym on the market today.
The grand idea for Toobers & Zots came to Arthur Ganson, an artist, kinetic sculptor and artist-in-residence at MIT. Flexible, holdable and infinitely moldable, Toobers & Zots inspires hours of open-ended, creative fun. Toobers- long, bendable foam tubes-hold their shape and are lightweight and fun to use. Colorful Zots are an assortment of stars, circles, squares, triangles, donuts, crowns, and other shapes that connect with Toobers like beads on a string.
1998
Tickle Me Elmo hits stores, causing Christmas-shopping hordes to practically triple in size. Elmo was the ideal character to launch a line of plush toys that reacted to a child's touch.
2002
Timeless Toys creates a custom bear wearing a three cornered revolutionary hat for the Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York where George Washington gave his farewell address.
A Century Of Classic Toys
Many of the toys that tickled kids' fancies for the last 100 years are still favorites today!

1900's
Lionel trains, Crayola Crayons, Teddy Bears
1910's
Model T Ford toy cars, Erector Sets, Tinker toys
1920's
Lincoln Logs, Radio Flyer Wagon, Yo-Yos
1930's
LEGO Building Sets, Sorry game, View-Master 3-D Viewer
1940's
Chutes and Ladders, Tonka Trucks, Scrabble, Candy Land
1950's
Silly Putty, Play-Doh, Matchbox Cars, Barbie
1960's
Etch-A-Sketch, G.I. Joe, Easy Bake Oven, Twister
1970's
Nerf Balls, Uno, Connect Four, Othello, Rubik's Cube
1980's
Cabbage Patch Kids, Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, Super Soaker
1990's
Pokemon, Furby, Star Wars Episode I Figures